We're back with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting the recent independent horror news sent our way. Today's feature includes DVD release details for Compound Fracture, trailers for ALTERGEIST and Aftermath, first details on Danger Word, the Stage Fright call for submissions, and the lineup from Sci Fest in Los Angeles, a review of the second season of Holliston, and much more:

Compound Fracture DVD Release Details: "Level 33 Entertainment announced today the release of the highly anticipated horror feature film Compound Fracture coming to DVD and VOD on May 13, 2014. Bringing together three iconic figures in the horror pantheon, Compound Fracture stars Tyler Mane (Michael Myers in Rob Zombie’s Hallowee), Muse Watson (Ben Willis in I Know What You Did Last Summer), and Derek Mears (Jason Voorhees in the new Friday The 13TH). The movie will be available at all major retail and rental outlets including Walmart, Best Buy, iTunes, and Amazon.com.

Produced by Mane Entertainment, written by Renae Geerlings & Tyler Mane, and directed by Anthony Rickert-Epstein, Compound Fracture is a supernatural thriller about a broken family with a history of abuse and dementia that is forced to find a common ground to fight a greater supernatural threat. The film stars Tyler Mane, Muse Watson, Derek Mears, Leslie Easterbrook (The Devil's Rejects), Renae Geerlings (Halloween II), Daniel Roebuck (Lost), Todd Farmer (Jason X), Jelly Howie (Dexter) and Alex Saxon (ChapmanH). Prior to its home entertainment release, Compound Fracture enjoyed a successful limited theatrical release and film festival run across the United States and Canada, receiving glowing reviews and winning “Best of Festival” at the Hot Springs Horror Film Festival."

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ALTERGEIST Trailer Released: "With a long history of bizarre deaths and strange phenomena, King's Ransom Winery is widely considered one of the most haunted places in North America. Led by Theresa Augland, a group of six paranormal investigators conducting a search for evidence of the other side begin to witness strange happenings. As long-buried memories and deep-seated fears bubble to the surface, they are terrified to learn that even the winery's ghosts fear the truly sinister presence that has haunted the family estate for generations.

Sci Fest Lineup Announced: "Science fiction is alive and well in the City of Angels as the inaugural Sci Fest blasts its way into Hollywood's Acme Theatre from May 6 – June 1. The brainchild of actor/writer David Dean Bottrell (True Blood, Justified) Sci Fest is a celebration of one act science fiction plays directed by a Who's Who in the genre including Jack Kenny (Warehouse 13), and Dan Castellaneta (The Simpsons) and starring Tony Award winner (and "Lost" star) L. Scott Caldwell in an impressive ensemble of TV & film Sci Fi actors.

Sci Fest is the first theater festival of its kind in L.A. Among the many new and original science fiction stories, Sci Fest will stage Ray Bradbury's classic Kaleidoscope, as well as the world premiere of Ursula LeGuin's brilliant The Wife's Story.

Los Angeles has contributed more to the genre of Science Fiction in literature, film, television, music, and pop culture, than any other city on Earth, and it's fitting for Sci Fest to premiere here. We're anticipating a big turnout!"

James Cullen Bressack to Direct Squeal: Blood Harvest: "The production team of upcoming horror feature, SQUEAL: Blood Harvest has officially announced that horror director James Cullen Bressack has officially signed on to direct the psychological horror thriller. “I’m very excited to be a part of this awesome project and to push the envelope to a place it hasn’t been yet.” said Bressack in response to inquiries about his involvement in the much anticipated release. Bressack is known within the indie horror film industry for his work on such films as 13/13/13, Hate Crime, and Blood Lake. He first exploded onto the scene at the age of 18 with the success of his first feature My Pure Joy and has been generating a considerable amount of buzz ever since. He has also been active in the production of a series of horror anthologies focused on showcasing other up and coming indie horror filmmakers.

Bressack's Twitter account has recently achieved 'verified' status, which is almost unheard of for an indie film director. His official Twitter page can be found here here.

SQUEAL: Blood Harvest follows the story of young Maggie Crane and her brother Jake as they attempt to unravel the mystery behind Jack’s recurrent nightmares of squealing pigs. After a move to their Uncle Ollie’s farm, Maggie and her camera further explore the dark and sinister foundation of her brother’s fears to the tune of chilling revelations.

The film is currently in preproduction and scheduled for a 2015 release through Dismal Productions in association with MOnsterworks66. The screenplay was written by Michael Hultquist (Arena, Victim) based on an original story concept created by Seth Metoyer (Cell Count, Deadly Punkettes, Ballerina Massacre) and story coordinator Shannon Hilson. Executive Producer Steve Boyle has recently joined the project, and casting is also in progress with Bill Oberst Jr. (Criminal Minds, Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies, Children of Sorrow) set to play the lead role as Uncle Ollie."

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Dark House and Indigenous Cannes Premiere Details: "As demand for commercial horror/thriller fare continues to rise in the global marketplace, Lightning Entertainment has bolstered its offerings in the space, acquiring international sales rights to two highly sought-after titles, “Indigenous” and “Dark House,” which will debut in Cannes. The announcement was made today by Lightning Entertainment’s EVP & General Manager Ken DuBow.

On his 23rd birthday, Nick is summoned by his mother to the asylum where she has been institutionalized since his childhood. Hoping that her request to see him is a sign of improvement, Nick is stunned by her revelation that the father he thought was dead is really alive, and that he may know the origin of Nick's terrible psychic gift. Nick sets out to find his father with his best friend and girlfriend. Every road they take on the terrifying journey leads them back to the same abandoned mansion - a house which Nick thought had only existed in his childhood imagination. Finally succumbing to the will of the house, Nick becomes embroiled in an epic battle with a horrific dark force.

Shot on location in Panama, the film follows a group of friends who travel from Los Angeles to exotic Panama for a week of surfing and partying in a lush tropical paradise. Befriending a beautiful local woman in their hotel bar, they learn of a secret jungle hike to a pristine waterfall nearby. A local surfer cautions them strongly against the journey into the dense jungles of the Darien Gap, warning that other gringos in search of the legendary waterfall had mysteriously disappeared into the rainforest, never to be seen or heard from again.

Ignoring his warnings, the group convinces the woman to guide them to the picturesque waterfall, thinking that they have nothing to fear with a local as their guide. What begins as a fun outing quickly turns terrifying when their guide mysteriously vanishes after a romantic tryst at the falls. As night closes in, the friends realize too late the truth behind the warnings— horrific, bloodthirsty, flesh-eating creatures are now stalking them. The mangled survivors rush to jungle caves for shelter, only to realize they’ve entered the monsters’ lair!

Lightning’s SVP Joseph Dickstein negotiated the deal for Dark House with Paradigm’s Meaghan Oliver and for Indigenous with XYZ’s Nick Bolton."

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First Clip from Blood Shed: "A homeless loner moves into a self-storage facility searching for his past, but soon he realizes that this place is being haunted by a deranged female ghost!

Horror-thriller Blood Shed [is] now available on DVD at Redbox, on VOD on various platforms all across North America, and coming to Amazon on May 6th."

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Zombie World Production Details: "Zombie World is a horror anthology focusing on survivors across the world as they struggle to overcome horrifying circumstances when a pandemic brings forth a zombie apocalypse. The collection of blood, guts and mayhem will be brought to life by a group of new and up-and-coming directors from around the world that Ruthless Pictures and Dread Central will handpick from short film entries received between April 21, 2014 and May 30, 2014 on Dread Central.com. The work of each chosen director will be featured in the film and will bring his or her take to a world now populated with flesh-eating corpses. Among the brilliant shorts to be included in Zombie World is Peter Horn and Jared Marshall’s Dark Times, a blood-splattered scamper through the woods shot entirely in POV, where zombies, aliens and even Santa Claus make an appearance.

The deal was negotiated by Image Entertainment’s Jess De Leo and Grace Feeney and Jesse Baget on behalf of the filmmakers."

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Aftermath Trailer Released: "William is a scientist who believes he’s found the cure to cancer. But when his research is corrupted in an effort to contaminate a large portion of the population, people begin turning into cannibalistic monsters. Valerie is a psychologist dealing with one of America’s most prolific serial killers, Lucas, when the contamination becomes widespread.

Carter is an Army Vet who loses his wife to the zombies, and meets young, pregnant, Sarah in his travels. Trent is a fighter trying to make ends meet, but when he’s bitten, and doesn’t turn, he presents a unique opportunity to William.

This eclectic group’s paths are set on a crash course, as they all strive to survive in this new world, and Trent seems to be the key to everything. But is William really who he promises to be? The world has become a place where the living may end up being more dangerous than the infected, and the group who took William’s research is never far away, lurking in the shadows.

As the group makes their way to a rumored safe haven, they have to contend with the infected, the each other, and the lack of basic necessities they once took for granted. But for some of them, the hunger may end up being too much to bear.

Fresh Slate Pictures, LLC, Saint James Films, LLC, and TomCat Films LLC, would like to present the theatrical trailer for the action-horror thriller, “Aftermath”!

The movie was accepted to the 2013 Fright Night Film Festival, and the 2014 MayDay Film Festival.

It is the first Feature from Director Robert Thompson; written by Robert Thompson, J.R.S. Storch, and Logan Ray; Executive Produced by Mark Newbauer.

The Dreamlands Production Details: "The Dreamlands, a H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos feature from German director Huan Vu (The Color Out Of Space, 2010) partners up with German production company FFL (Shifting The Blame, 2012). FFL promised to bring in substantial amount of budget in case the crowd funding campaign, which goal has now been lowered thanks to new partnership, succeeds. The campaign has been active for about 10 days now, and has raised already over $31000, 23% of the goal. The campaign still has 33 days left to fulfill its’ goal.

“We think this is a great opportunity to expand our production catalog, and believe there’s a great strength in crowd funding”, says Philipp Knauss from FFL.

The crowd funding campaign is backed up also by Iron Sky director Timo Vuorensola’s crowd funding company Spaceboy, who’s consulting the financing."

The Chair Teaser Trailer Released: "The Chair follows the story of Richard Sullivan, an innocent man struggling to escape execution on death row. Witnessing the torture and murder of his fellow inmates at the hands of the prison's sadistic and psychotic Warden, Sullivan decides that the only way to survive is to fight back. But as he matches the savagery and brutality occurring in the prison, Sullivan is forced to come face to face with his own sanity."

First Details on The Hospital 2: "Deviant Pictures has announced production on the sequel to their award-winning and controversial The Hospital. The sequel will feature Kevin VanHentenryck (Basket Case 1-3), Scream Queen Of The Decade Debbie Rochon (American Nightmare), and Scott Tepperman (Ghost Hunters International) and will be helmed, once again, by writers/directors Jim O’Rear (Don’t Look in the Basement 2) and Daniel Emery Taylor (Return of the Swamp Thing).

The Hospital stirred up quite a bit of controversy and made international front-page news after taking home the prize of “Scariest Movie” at the Movie Days/Dark Zone celebration in Germany and then getting banned in Bulgaria and pulled from shelves across the U.K. due to its extreme and violent subject matter. Although Germany awarded the prize to the feature and released it in 3-D on blu-ray, the distributors still had to trim 20 minutes of content from the cut in order to pass international standards.

Due to the success of The Hospital, Deviant Pictures was guaranteed a worldwide distribution deal for The Hospital 2, sight unseen, if they would go into production on the sequel immediately.

Currently, The Hospital can be found, uncut, in over 150 million homes throughout the U.S. and Canada on cable, pay-per-view, and video on demand services and the uncut DVD can be found through almost all major retailers in the United States.

Deviant Pictures has just launched a crowd-funding campaign through IndieGogo where, for a limited time, fans can pre-order autographed copies of the movie and even have the chance to play a role and be killed in the film."

Located in Melbourne, Australia, Dark Epic Films's Apocalyptic"was shot in 5 days for under $10,000 and will be released through Monster Pictures on DVD later this year!"

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First Details on the Never Sleep Again Documentary: "Calling All "Elm Street" Fans! Please join Panic Productions & 1428 Films in support of an amazing new project brought to you by the writer/producer of our award-winning documentary! Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy--The Making of Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is a lavish and comprehensive account of the seminal shocker that launched what many have called the best, most frightening and imaginative horror franchise in motion picture history. This is the book we've all been screaming for!

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy--The Making of Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" will take you deeper than ever before into the creative minds behind the original Nightmare on Elm Street. Dozens of exclusive new interviews with the people who brought the film to life -- along with rare, never-before-seen photographs, storyboards, conceptual drawings, publicity materials, archival documents and more -- will complete this exhaustively-researched chronicle of everyone's favorite "dream demon" and the film that started it all!"

Smothered Premiere Details: "The Expendables of Horror Movies Smothers Louisiana in May! Actor and filmmaker John Schneider (Smallville, Dukes of Hazzard) has rounded up some of horror's most famous faces for Smothered, premiering in New Orleans in May.

The highly-anticipated fright-fest, which features the likes of Kane Hodder, Don Shanks, R.A Mihailoff, Bill Mosely, and Brea Grant , boasts the largest number of horror icons ever to grace the screen at the same time.

Smothered, written and directed by Schneider, sees the horror icons playing themselves in a scenario that sees them attending a small, disheartening horror-convention on Friday the 13th. Running out of patience but principally money, the group accept a cash-offer to go and scare-up the local RV park - but things take a surprising, dark turn when they arrive. The tables are turned as the monsters of the movie screen become the prey!

Smothered will premiere in Louisiana, where the film was shot and Schneider's Fairlight Films is now located. The premiere, being held at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel on Friday May 16, encompass a pre-screening social hour and post-screening Q&A with Schneider. Members of the film's cast and crew, as well as city dignitaries are expected to be in attendance.

Smothered, also featuring Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), John Kassir ('The Crypt Keeper'), Dane Rhodes (True Detective), and Shanna Forrestall (The Last Exorcism), is due for release late 2014."

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Premiere and Screening Details for Another: "Director Jason Bognacki’s exciting supernatural thriller Another will have its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival. The film will debut before audiences, starting May 17th, 2014 and members of the media are invited to attend this one-of-a-kind event. Another is a terrifying tale, which stars up and coming actress Paulie Rojas (The Last Resort), horror actress Maria Olsen (Paranormal Activity 3), Nancy Wolfe (Helter Skelter) and David Landry.

As well, Bognacki has captured the film with high quality digital, to compete in the New American Cinema contest. Another will be presented Saturday May 17th and Sunday May 18th, with the best in cinema, 4K resolution. This format will bring Another’s breathtaking visuals to cinema screens with true brilliance. The film will dazzle horror audiences in just a couple of weeks!"

Danger Word Feature Details: "Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due, the husband-wife writing team, have announced the option of their YA zombie novel series Devil’s Wake and Domino Falls to ToniK Productions and Tonya Lewis Lee. The announcement came a day after the short film Barnes and Due co-produced and adapted from Devil’s Wake, called Danger Word, launched online Monday. Danger Word is directed and co-produced by Luchina Fisher, starring Frankie Faison (“The Wire,” The Silence of the Lambs) and introducing child actress Saoirse Scott (“One Life to Live.”).

Danger Word, their filmmaking debut, has been nominated for Best Narrative Short at the BronzeLens Film Festival and the Pan African Film Festival.

Devil’s Wake (2012) and Domino Falls (2013) are science fiction/horror novels about 16-year-old Kendra Brookings—who finds herself alone in the world when a zombie plague destroys her family. She meets a diverse group of friends along the way, and they fight both “freaks” and “pirates” to try to reach the almost mythic island of Devil’s Wake—which may be the safest place left in the world.

Diversity is also a part of ToniK Productions’ mission statement: "ToniK focuses on diversity and women, developing original projects and adapting some of today’s top novels and biographies. At ToniK we believe in telling great stories that need to be told, with an eye towards authenticity. We are women. We are mothers. We are diverse."

Barnes and Due raised the short film’s budget through Facebook and Indiegogo, fueled by their fan base. They decided to produce their own film after their frustration with trying to work through the Hollywood studio system, where they said opportunities were too limited for projects with African-American protagonists."

Beacon Point Trailer: "Award winning Georgia filmmaker, Eric Blue, has decided to turn to Kickstarter to raise additional funding on his new independent feature length, horror movie, Beacon Point. With the movie already shot and edited, Blue and his production company, BlueLantern Films, want to raise additional funds to complete the final stages of their movie. So they decided to pursue the strategy of crowdfunding through Kickstarter. Throughout the 30 day campaign that will be launched on May 5th Blue and his comrades at BlueLantern Films hope to raise $20,000 for post production necessities like color correction, visual FX, audio work and marketing. The goal is to complete the movie, and release it to the world.

Blue and his co-writer Traci Carroll set out to write a screenplay that breaks through the usual horror clichés, and gives a fresh perspective on the typical scary woods story. Beacon Point tells the tale of five strangers trekking through the remote and austere Great Smoky Mountains when they stumble across a long forgotten Native American legend. The group fights to stay alive long enough to get back to civilization, and safety. Filmed on location in Georgia and North Carolina, Beacon Point is already building a strong fan base through an active social media presence.

If the film is successfully funded, Blue hopes to complete Beacon Point in the Summer of 2014."

Stage Fright Call for Submissions: "The London Horror Festival, the UK’s festival of horror in the performing arts, are once again teaming up with award-winning audio drama producers The Wireless Theatre Company to produce the Stage Fright horror radio competition.

Stage Fright is searching for short radio dramas exploring the spooky, the shocking, the macabre and the downright terrifying… We’re accepting submissions from writers at all levels of experience, from veteran scriptwriters to first time scribes, challenging you to create a spine-tingling short drama to be performed and recorded live on the opening night of the London Horror Festival 2014. Three short listed entries will be produced and performed live by a team of professional actors from the Wireless Theatre Company, for one-night only as part of the Stage Fright 2014 event on the opening night of the London Horror Festival. The professionally produced recording of the evening will then be available for download from wirelesstheatrecompany.co.uk, which receives over 3 million hits per year and offers a great platform for your work to reach a global audience of listeners.

A winner will be selected from the shortlist and awarded the Andre de Lorde Award for Horror Playwriting, by a celebrity judge. Previous Judges have included horror legend RICHARD O’BRIEN and horror writer and critic KIM NEWMAN.

Submissions will be accepted until mid August 2014.

Terms & Conditions for Stage Fright 2014:

1. Entries must be no more than 15 minutes long (approximately 10 typed pages) and in what could be broadly defined as the horror or thriller genre. Psychodrama, horror comedy, genre mash-up, pastiche and monologue forms all considered, but your objective should be to send a shiver down the spine. 2. Entries should be appropriate for performance by a cast of no more than five and written with the radio in mind. Complex sound effects will not be possible, but we strongly encourage the use of effects which can be performed live. 3. Scripts should be submitted via the online submission form no later than August 15th 2014. Please complete all fields in the form. Applications received after this date will not be considered. 4. A £2 entry fee is required for each script submitted. Writers are free to submit as many scripts as they desire, however the fee must be paid for each script. This is to cover administration and readers costs. Payment must be made via PayPal at the time of application (mark your payment with the name of your script). Scripts will not be considered until payment has been made. 5. Short listed writers will be contacted via email before September 20th 2014. 6. Short listed entries will be directed, rehearsed and performed by a team of theatre professionals and produced by the Wireless Theatre Company. They will be performed and recorded live at a London theatre venue on the opening night of the London Horror Festival 2014. 7. All scripts remain the property of the writer; the Wireless Theatre Company retains the rights to the recorded performance, which will be distributed with no charge from their website. 8. The performance and recording will be a ticketed event at the London Horror Festival, with each short listed writer receiving 2 complimentary tickets. 9. Plays must be the author’s own work, adaptations of existing texts will only be considered if the work is out of copyright or owned by the play’s author. 10. Plays should not have previously been published, recorded and/or distributed, nor have previously been professionally performed. Amateur performances or readings and online publications may be acceptable. 11. Entrants must not be directly involved with Hidden Basement Productions, the Wireless Theatre Company or the London Horror Festival".

In late October, prohibition agents get word of suspicious behaviour on the Devils Reef, a small island just off the coast of Innsmouth – Fishermen report sightings of strange looking people hiding between the rocks of the otherwise deserted island, and disquieting chanting being heard at night. Convinced this is a cover-up for alcohol smugglers the department sends out a landing team to investigate … an investigation that swiftly turns into a deadly nightmare that only one of them, Detective Thomas Malone, survives with luck.

Stranded at Innsmouth’s shore Malone is found by West’s men and brought to hospital. This is where the adventure begins.

Can you fool Dr. West?

The game will feature 2 playable characters, plenty of lovely locations like an asylum, a morgue, graveyards and Innsmouth’s famous sewer system as well as interesting interactions with a colourful array of charming townsfolk and possibly even a meeting with a very old one!"

Holliston is a show that I have loved since the first episode. As the show has progressed it has gotten better in storyline, laughs and gore. Season 2 raised the bar and it continued to thrive until the final episode. The story continues with Joe, Adam, Corri and Laura living in the small town of Holliston. Last season they were trying to get their film made, but due to John Landis ruining their hopes and dreams with a horrible letter, they have decided to move on and start their own film festival so they can win the award and finally ‘make it'.

The season has tons of guest stars like Danielle Harris, Kane Hodder, Derek Mears and numerous others. These are actors that the horror genre has come to love, and they do not disappoint in the roles they play. Whether Kane Hodder is dancing sexually (which is horrible and funny to see), Danielle Harris is stealing Adams money, or Derek Mears is playing the dopey police officer, the laughs do not stop coming. However, this is more then just a normal comedy as well, as there is plenty of heart that goes into the show. Laura and Joe have a delicate relationship and, even though they seem goofy and dumb at times, there is true love there. The love that Adam shows for Corri is true and genuine as he tries to make her jealous so she can see what she is missing in her life. I will not spoil the ending, but the show has a ton of blood and gore, but it is pulsating through a giant heart.

I cannot speak about this review without bringing up Dave Brockie aka Oderus. He was a character in this show that was amazing and hilarious. He may have only been in a few minutes of each episode, but those few minutes stole the show. He was funny and wrong in all the right places and he will be missed.

The Blu-ray has a bunch of extras including commentaries that the Ariescope fans have come to love and enjoy. Adam Green once again does justice with the behind-the-scenes footage, taking you to the set to show the fun that the cast and crew was having and to the premiere of Holliston season 2 in Los Angeles. Overall, the Blu-ray looks beautiful and the sound quality is great. Season 2 is truly better than the original because the fans know the characters and have grown to love them. Again, this is a show that may be considered horror, but the actors and characters help catapult this show to a show the fans have come to love and care about.